Not So Easy Now
by Velorhi
Summary: There was no room for coddling. Not this time. No whispers of greatness, no white-lies and empty promises to fill her head. Only Kung fu, and nothing more.


Title: Not So Easy Now  
Pairing: Shifu/Tigress  
Rating: K+ to be safe  
Disclaimer: Don't own Kung Fu Panda, just letting them run around a little.  
A/N. So, i couldn't get the idea out of my head, and just had to do it, so here is the child of the affair of much too little sleep, and way too much ideas running through my head. Enjoy!

The wind blew gently, making the leaves upon the Peach Tree Of Heavenly Wisdom rustle faintly, as the shadow of the giant tree, slowly began to cover up the sitting figure whom had seeked refuge under the stance of the looming giant. Master Shifu allowed the sounds, smells and senses of nature to wash over him, as he freed his mind of any burdens, his thoughts easily slipping into darkness as meditation enveloped him with an ease many would be envious of.

The red panda could scarcely remember a time when meditation had come so easily to him, normally having to force the blessed calm upon himself. This appeared to be just one of the many changes Po, the resident Dragon Warrior, had brought to the Jade Palace, since his defeat of Tai Lung.

Tai Lung. The name still hurt to think of, only now Shifu was not blocking out the negatives the two words brought him. He was learning, or rather re-learning a fact Master Oogway had taught him very long ago. Everything has an opposite, an equal apposing force to fully complete the cycle.

Where before Shifu would block out any and all feelings associated with the name of his former student, former friend, former son, he now allowed the full force of his emotions to run, releasing them from their barrier. He felt the relief of no longer having to fear the name being spoken, the fear of him escaping to continue his revenge. And the joy that his son was no longer suffering such hatred within his soul. And then the sorrow, of having it ended as such a way it did.

The words the snow leopard had shouted at him during their battle still rang within his ears, and a small sigh escaped the master. Yes, he had been proud of his son, such feelings simply did not just vanish overnight, or over a 20 year period as well, it would seem. He held many regrets when it concerned Tai Lung, yet the past was just that, the past, and he could not fret himself over things that had long ago since ended.

Instead he brought his mind to the now. His recent, if not awkward attempts to get to know his students once more, or perhaps for the first time, he supposed. As the five had grown up, Shifu had always kept a watchful eye upon them, learning of their activities, injuries, anything that would affect their training. But now, he was learning who his students were, with the great urging of Po to do so.

At first it had seemed futile, asking his students to trust him with more than just their training, but with themselves. For many days, it seemed as if there was no point. Po, for all his due, had tried to help, often throwing in a joke or inappropriate comment when things would get awkward between Shifu, and the Five. The small master didn't know if he was thankful for Po's interventions, or if his pride had been wounded too much for his thankfulness to come through. The fact that he could barely speak to those under him in any subject other than kung fu was simply disgraceful of a master.

He would normal seclude himself for the rest of the day after such an encounter.

But it had been Viper who had taken pity upon him, asking him if he would like to accompany her to the village for some shopping. His immediate response had been a no, the thought of shopping for any length of time seeming far to much torture for him. Yet, he had stopped his remarks, gritted his teeth and nodded.

Despite his pain, he had learned much that day. He had found out Viper made many trips to the village, and had made a habit out of collecting tiny dolls the children would make for her. Apparently, she had quite the stash back at the palace. He learned she was perhaps a little too concerned with clothing, something he found odd for she wore none. He had quickly hid his shock and slight annoyance as she had turned her eyes to him, remarking upon the different styles.

He had never felt such relief flood through his system when she announced she was hungry, and tired of looking through clothes. And he found he was not the least bit surprised when she led him to Mr. Pings noodle shop. And the look upon her face when he had paid for both their meals, and been well worth the torture. He had not seen that look within her eyes since she had been a little girl. It was refreshing.

Next had been Mantis. Shifu chuckled as he remembered how the tiny master had approached him, acting as nonchalant as could be, but it did not take a master of kung fu to sense the nervousness just under the surface. Shifu had led the conversation, Mantis had asked, rather abruptly, if he would mind allowing him to do acupuncture on him.

Words had failed the red panda for a moment, as he stared at his student. It had remained silent, until Shifu had gave a single nod. The rest was rather... interesting, to put it. He listened at Mantis reassured him he had done this hundreds of times on monkey. Shifu had been almost afraid to ask why the rest of the Fives names did not pop up.

He learned why soon enough. Mantis was quite the chattery bug when he wanted to be. Shifu had sat as still as possible, forcing his body to refrain from flinching when the tiniest of the masters would miss the correct spot by centimetres. Vipers' body was far too different to be able to properly insert all the needles, Mantis had told him, as was Po's, but both knew it was not the fur Mantis had meant when describing it. Crane had tried it once, and then refused from there on out. It wasn't too hard to figure out why.

And Tigress had never once allowed Mantis to come near her with his acupuncture needles. That's my girl, Shifu thought, before quickly pushing it away. No, that was not allowed.

Crane had been the easiest of them all. Once he had been reassured by Mantis and Viper that Shifu had infact made an effort, the relatively laid back one of the group had remarked upon his new calligraphy brushes during a conversation, and before Shifu knew what was happening, they were practicing together.

He had forgotten how relaxing it was. The only sound being that of your breathing and the brush upon the paper, however the light conversation with Crane was certainly a plus to the entire encounter.

And then had followed Monkey. Monkey, he found out, was much like Viper in a sense. He too enjoyed escaping to the village, just perhaps not quite as often as the snake. And he preferred spending his time at the orphanage, of all places. Shifu had gladly accepted Monkeys offer to join him to the village, yet his surprise had managed to break loose its confines when he found himself standing once more infront of that familiar building.

It was only then Monkey added; he liked spending time with the orphans, hoping that with enough attention they would not turn out as he had when he was that age. Shifu only nodded his understanding; feeling perhaps a little confined standing once more within the walls that had once held young Tigress.

That feeling quickly left, and was forgotten when he began listening to the tales the youngsters had to offer, the games they wished to play. Monkey was the only one to join in the games, while Shifu preferred playing what the children called 'Ref', while he considered it exactly like his Master duties.

And then there was Tigress. He was ashamed to say, he had not yet tried to reconnect with her. He found it surprisingly hard to break his teacher persona when around her, a defense mechanism he had employed so long, it was rather frightening to have to suddenly wish its existence gone.

Tigress. His eyes opened as he broke from his meditation; gazing out at the view the cliff was privy too. Shifu did not know where to start when it came to Tigress.

When she had first come under his care, he was withdrawn and hard for fear of a repeat of the Tai Lung incident. Too much praise, too much leeway, and what was to stop her becoming like him? So, he kept his distance while she was a child, not allowing her the same choice he had given his other 'child', an option he knew seemed to sweet in comparison to what was offered. And far too tempting.

And it had worked. She had grown into a teenager with enough talent to rival that of her own unknown comparison. He found he had always compared her to Tai Lung in those years, the two had been so much alike, and yet so different. His excuse for being a 'hard-ass', as Po liked to call it, had been simple. She needed to be pushed to achieve her maximum potential. And she had! She had become his star pupil, a magnificent kung fu master. During those years she needed to be pushed roughly to understand how much she could take, and how far she could go.

There was no room for coddling. Not this time. No whispers of greatness, no white-lies and empty promises to fill her head. Only Kung fu, and nothing more.

He was not exactly sure when, during her years into adulthood, that his feelings began to change, to shift. Oh, she was still his student, his child in every right, and yet.... He knew it was not healthy for a teacher to run his eyes appreciatively over his students form as she trained, not noting the positions of her attacks, but instead the curves of her body, the well defined muscles of her legs, the sleekness of her coat.

And when the magnitude of what he was doing hit him, he withdrew even more to protect, not only himself, but her as well. He became more demanding of her, more insistent she practice more lungs, more kicks. He used his 'perfectionist' persona as a disguise to allow his eyes time to appraise her being, her beauty.

It had progressed so badly, he had become disgusted with himself. And then he had broken the link. There had always been a link between them, forged through a simple game of dominoes, allowing them short but intimate moments when his pride would shine through. But he could allow that no longer, not when his mind was running amok with visions of her, scenarios and exchanges plaguing the long nights he was suffering.

He killed that link so fast it made him dizzy. And thats when things had gotten really rough - for her. He would yell, shout, demand more, more, more. He would not gaze at her for more than a few seconds to make sure his mind was not allowed enough time to act upon its own accord. He pushed her as far away as she would go, and then some more. He had become afraid once more of a student.

Only this time it was different. He was not afraid of her treachery, the complete opposite infact. He was afraid of her loyalty, and what would happen if he allowed his guard to drop for but a moment. No, that simply could not happen.

The master-student relationship had never thrived more, as she became his perfect little warrior. With a snap of his fingers she would do as he asked, and he did admit some shame into morphing the relationship into a master-slave scenario rather than student, but it had worked. While that relationship thrived, their 'personal' one stopped, halted fast enough to spray them both with dirt, dirt that would never come off, and would make them both feel dirty for a very long time because of it. They were stuck in that department, him not allowing it to go forward, her begging it not to go backwards.

Every night he would curse himself for allowing his mind, his body, and strangely enough, his heart for wanting the feline so badly. It was wrong, completely and utterly wrong, and yet... and yet... the rest of him begged to differ. He found not even the hottest water could cleanse him of his disgust for such thoughts.

And then Po had arrived, had changed something. It was as if her begging of the relationship to not go backwards stopped, and it gave her freedom. Freedom to do as she wished, for once. Ironic, he thought, that her betrayal of his orders, had been to fight Tai Lung, the one whom had betrayed not only his orders, but everything he had once stood for.

And the rest, as they say, was history. And here he sat, contemplating this all, while knowing he had to face the last obstacle.

It was with a heaving sigh, Master Shifu stood, stretching his muscles as he did so. He had put off talking to Tigress long enough. It was time to face his fears, and trust in his strength. He turned, and headed down the cliff, toward the training hall where he knew she would be, for she was the only one of his students to have never changed as the years passed. She had never changed, and yet... he not who she was. But he would.

A/N: So there we goooo!!! YaY! The muses actually agreed with this one. I am thinking about adding another part where Tigress and Shifu actually have the conversation, or confrontation...However it goes, but... its iffy at the moment. Anywhoo, review, and cookies for all!! Hope you liked it!!

Ciao!


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